Starting January 1, 2027, the base salaries of cultural workers will increase by 70%
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has decided to significantly increase the base salaries of employees at state- and municipally-owned cultural institutions, as well as at the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (UCF) and the Ukrainian Book Institute (UBI). Starting January 1, 2027, their salaries will increase by 70%.
This was announced by Tetyana Berezhna, currently Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture. For certain categories of employees who already have applicable pay increase coefficients, base salaries will rise by 40%. In total, this initiative will cover more than 118,000 professionals throughout Ukraine.
According to Tetiana Berezhna, pay grades in the cultural sector have not been revised since 2009. This led to a leveling of pay, where professionals in pay grades 1 through 14 effectively received the same pay at the minimum wage level, despite differences in qualifications, education, or work experience.
Low income levels have caused a significant exodus of professional staff from the sector. The minister cited statistics demonstrating a significant income gap:
22,721 UAH — the average monthly salary in the library, archive, and museum sector for 2025.
39,758 UAH — the average salary in the Ukrainian economy for the same period.
The Ministry of Culture’s team has been working on this financial decision for over half a year. The announced pay increase will be only the first stage of a large-scale reform. As a next step, government officials plan to implement a modern compensation system in which the amount of pay will directly depend on each employee’s level of professionalism, personal responsibility, and specific work results.
Ukraine is preparing a large-scale pension reform that involves revising the mechanism for calculating benefits and increasing the minimum pension for certain categories of citizens to 6,000 hryvnias. At the same time, the government’s proposal calls for Ukrainians to take greater personal responsibility for shaping their future pension security.
The Pension Fund will continue digitizing employment records after June 10.
